The scandal, which broke last year, is one of the most serious problems the church has faced in decades and seemed to reveal a wide schism within the clergy.

The story began with a series of mysterious leaked letters which eventually became informally known as "VatiLeaks". Journalist Gianlugi Nuzzi, notorious for a series of books about the Vatican, was reportedly vetted for months before being given documents by an unknown source, known only as "Maria", the Daily Beast reports.

The documents themselves were 30 faxed memos from the Pope's office to other Vatican offices. While many were mundane, some appeared to show that Vatican insiders who attempted to confront corruption in the Vatican Bank had been sidelined.

For example, during Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano's tenure as deputy-governor of the Vatican city from 2009-2011, Vigano encountered and reportedly tried to put a stop to corruption, cronyism, nepotism, and the awarding of contracts to friends of officials at inflated prices.

"VatiLeaks" became a major headache for the church, with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, insisting it's just the result of journalists "pretending to be Dan Brown" and, more cryptically, the "devil".

In May 2012 Vatican authorities finally arrested one man thought to be behind the leaks — the Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele. Gabriele was found guilty by a Vatican court in October, and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. The butler was later pardoned by Benedict himself, however, and he is now reportedly working in a hospital.

Curiously, Nuzzi himself has told Der Spiegel that the target of the leaks isn't the pope himself, instead arguing that Benedict XVI was revolutionary, and clearly wanted to bring transparency to the Vatican bank.

What the leaks really show, he said, is his weakness of his leadership. Many note that the target of attacks seems to be the second most important person in the Vatican — the secretary of state, Tarcisio Bertone, who has been accused of cronyism and refusing to deal with corruption, Reuters reports.

Bertone is of course the man who would like to blame the scandal on "the devil", but he's also the head of the opaque and archaic Vatican bureaucracy, the Curia, which is dominated by Italian clerics such as Bertone and can effectively overrule the pope. Benedict XVI had planned to reform the church, but instead found himself under its power, despite a growing backlash.

Whatever the reason behind the leaks, the scandal has shown the incredible level of infighting inside the secretive headquarters of the Catholic Church. It may well be something to keep an eye on as the Church begins its search for a new pope.